Monthly Archives: March 2012

Library of the future?

In Demolition Man (1993), Sylvester Stallone plays John Spartan, a cop who is brought out of cryogenics in order to pursue an old enemy (Wesley Snipes) running rampant in a future, nonviolent society. Sandra Bullock also co-stars as fellow cop Lenina Huxley.

There’s no librarian in the movie, so, alas, it joins the others in Class V. I didn’t plan on having two Class V movies so close to each other (see my previous post about Moscow on the Hudson), but that’s the order I received these movies from my local public library.

But not all is lost. About an hour into the film, Lenina and John mention a library during a conversation in the car. Let’s listen in:

Lenina: I’ve been an enthusiast of your escapades for quite some time now. I have, in fact, perused some newsreels from the Schwarzenegger Library…

John:  Hold it. The Schwarzenegger Library?!

Lenina:  Yes, the Schwarzenegger Presidential Library. Wasn’t he an actor when you…

John:  Stop! He was president?

Lenina:  Yes. Even though he was not born in this country, his popularity caused the 61st amendment…

John:  I don’t want to know. President.

You can enjoy this brief scene — and the variety of amusing facial expressions from Stallone — in this clip below.

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Feelin’ good for 100

It’s my 100th post, y’all! ;)

Truth, I wasn’t planning on anything special for the 100th post. But yesterday, the hubby and I spent a day in and around Astoria, Oregon — it was a lovely day, sunshiny outside and also inside my heart — complete with a trip to The Goonies house and the Oregon Film Museum. Driving home, Sam suggested it for a blog post, and everything clicked.

Oregon Film MuseumThe Oregon Film Museum started up in 2005 and is housed in the former Clatsop County Jail (in use from 1914-1976, see right), which was used for the opening breakout scene in The Goonies (1985). The museum started out as your standard let’s-look-at-exhibits kind of space (nothing wrong with that, I love museums!), and there’s still a major section highlighting Goonies-related memorabilia. But the museum is also in the process of incorporating movie sets for visitors to make their own videos! Really cool idea. The interactive movie sets are up already, including a car backed by a green screen, and a dining room set with a camera that swings around for any angle. We also met the very friendly tech guy who’s working on setting up the movie editing side of things.

So, of course, I posed for a few photos. And when I picked up the movie clapboard, Sam yelled out, “Now YOU’RE the reel librarian!” Click, print, that’s a wrap, folks. :)

Now I'm the reel librarian. It's so meta.

For more info about the Oregon Film Museum, click here for the museum’s website, which includes a “Goonies Jail Cam” video and list of other movies made in Oregon. And click here for a detailed locations tour for The Goonies.

“Goonies never say die!”

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BONUS! My first review

A couple of weeks ago whilst perusing my WordPress stats, I noted some traffic coming from the Mesa County Libraries website, so I followed the link…  and discovered my first review of this Reel Librarians blog! Color me super-excited. Like :) x 100.

I immediately shared the news on Facebook (see below)… and then finally realized I should share the news, you know, on my ACTUAL blog. I know, I know. Sometimes, the best ideas take 10 days or more to process. ;)

Here’s a shot of my Facebook status when I first shared the news:

Facebook screenshot

So, the brief review is from the Mesa County Libraries blog under their “Reviews and Recommendations” section, and my site is described as both “too cool” and “awesome” with “an exhaustive list of librarian appearances in movies.” :) The entry goes on to highlight the 1995 flick Party Girl (yay!) plus lists some more personal favorites. A big thanks to Mesa County Libraries and to the reviewer, Cinephile Femme.

By the way, Mesa County is located in western Colorado. You can read more about Mesa County here, and more about the history of the Mesa County libraries here.

And if you, dear reader, would also like to review my site, please do! I would love to know what you think, and I welcome any suggestions to improve the site. If so inspired, please leave a comment.

Gimme shelter

Moscow on the Hudson (1984) surprised me. Based on the DVD cover (see left), I was not expecting much — or rather, I guess I was expecting a lot of bad accents and Russian stereotypes. To be sure, there are some bad accents and immigrant stereotypes, but overall, I was very pleasantly surprised by this movie. In truth, I found myself falling a little bit in love with my country again. It’s a typical immigrant plotline, but an intriguing one.

However, I was disappointed not to spot any librarians in the film. I went through the movie twice and called my husband in to make sure I wasn’t going crazy. At first, I couldn’t even spot a library!

So why did I request a copy of this movie from my local public library in the first place? Because in Martin Raish’s Librarians in the Movies online filmography, the line accompanying Moscow on the Hudson states: “Robin Williams has a scene in the library.” But the film is also listed in Category D, films Raish hadn’t seen yet or found adequate descriptive comments about. Perhaps there was a library scene that got deleted at some point?

I did finally find a web site that included a comment that one of the film scenes had been filmed outside a branch of the New York Public Library, the Tompkins Square Branch Library. Here’s how the outside of the library, and side alley way, appear in the movie (see right). You could also just spy a blurry library sign as the group walked past the entrance, in their hurry to get out of the rain.

It seems the library has undergone extensive renovations; click here for the branch library’s website.

So Moscow on the Hudson joins the other films in Class V, the category of films with no identifiable librarians. Below, enjoy a brief clip near the end of the movie.

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6 months and counting

Woo-hoo! So I began this blog 6 months ago, on Sept. 19, 2011. :) And being the over-sharer that I am, I thought it’d be fun to help celebrate this minor milestone by highlighting some more stats and a few behind-the-scenes bits and oddities. You know, for all those questions your subconscious has never asked.

Most popular searches that result in a hit for my blog:

  • Note to self:  Move the “Do an actual post about college librarian Sylvia Marpole in An Extremely Goofy Movie” from to-do list to “Get it done already OMG” list
  • Another note to self:  Start a “Get it done already OMG” list

Favorite — and therefore TOTALLY overused! — writing quirks (do they bug or amuse you?):

  • Parentheses, dashes, exclamation points, capitalizing random words for emphasis, and smiley emoticons. ;)

Runner-up writing quirk?

  • Using a question to set up an easy follow-up answer and transition. Yeah, like I just did there.

My personal favorite posts (so far):

Most popular pages & posts overall (over 100 views):

Quick stats:

  • 6,384 total views
  • 161 views on my busiest day (Feb. 22, 2012)
  • 96 posts (not including this one) + 20 pages
  • 94 likes
  • 64 comments total
  • 54 visits daily average
  • 49 shares
  • 20 followers
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